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90 million USD for a top-notch Nanotech Lab

ETH Zurich and the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory (ZRL) have today announced the establishment of a strategic partnership in nanotechnology. The two partner institutions will operate a new, common nanotech laboratory, which will be built on the ZRL campus.

MM / Media Relations ETH

The new Laboratory will be built on the IBM Research Laboratory campus at Rüschlikon and will cost 90 million Swiss Francs.
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The two partners have a long-standing tradition of scientific cooperation, and
now make an important step to deepen this collaboration further by forming a
strategic partnership in the field of nanotechnology. The collaborative project
was revealed at a joint media conference in Zurich
by Ralph Eichler, President of ETH Zurich,
and John E. Kelly III, Senior Vice-President
and Director of IBM Research. As part of this
collaboration, a new building with cutting-edge
research facilities will be constructed on the campus of the IBM Zurich
Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon (CH), with the laying of the foundation stone
scheduled in spring 2009, and the start of research activities in 2011.

A
value-add for Swiss industry

"This nanotech lab will have
a strong value-add, not only for the
participating institutions, but for Swiss industry as a whole",
said Professor Ralph Eichler, "as we are open to collaborations with Swiss
companies and research institutes". With EMPA – the Swiss interdisciplinary
research institution for material sciences and technology development - one additional
partner for collaboration is already involved. The collaboration brings with it
considerable potential for the creation of new production techniques from which
Switzerland,
with its sizeable community of SMEs, will profit.

The nanotech lab will make
world-beating research possible, but
the partnership itself is also innovative. "By creating this common research
center, IBM is expanding a collaborative and cooperative research program aimed
at accelerating our understanding and implementation of nanotechnology and its
broad range of applications", said Dr. Kelly. "We see this type of
collaboration as an emerging model for future industry-academic
partnerships".

New
building – shared infrastructure

The two institutions will
focus on research in various fields of nanotechnology, ranging from exploratory
and basic research to applied and near-term
projects. Several areas for joint research projects have been identified, such
as carbon-based materials, nano-photonics, spintronics, nanowires, and tribology.
The novel concept of a shared research facility with more than 900 m2
of cleanroom area will be built in the nanotech lab with three sections: one
each for exclusive use by IBM and ETH Zurich,
as well as an area that both partners will share. The costs of the new building
amount to 90 million USD, of which 30 million USD alone will be dedicated to
cutting-edge infrastructure. The partners will share expenditure for
infrastructure; the building investment itself will be undertaken by IBM. ETH Zurich will rent the space
and share the operations costs with IBM. The strategic partnership is intended
to be in place for at least 10 years. Apart from joint research activities each
partner institution is free to pursue its own projects.For ETH Zurich the new Nanotech Lab on the IBM campus
at Rüschlikon is a perfect complement to the existing research infrastructure
at ETH Zurich Hönggerberg and city-located
sites. An important aspect of the new center is the unique opportunity for ETH Zurich students to pursue their research in close
collaboration with an industrial partner, which is an important asset in ETH Zurich’s engineering
education.

Key
technology of the 21st century

Today numerous products based
on nanotechnology are on the market already, and many more are being developed.
Nanotechnology defines a technology that utilizes functions at an
extraordinarily small-size scale. It focuses on structures and processes in
dimensions below 100 nanometers - approximately 400 times thinner than a human
hair. At the scale of nanometers, many fundamental processes of biology, chemistry
and physics occur and can be controlled in unprecedented ways, offering astonishing
new perspectives in many disciplines.Nanotechnology is an enabling
technology which is expected to spark advances in various fields. These include
advanced functional materials, nanoelectronics, information and communication
technology, sensing, tools, healthcare and life sciences, and energy
technology. In particular, nanotech applications in the energy sector, such as
more efficient use of solar energy, or new ways of water treatment, might even
help to tackle some of the biggest challenges of our time.With its research at ETH Zurich and the IBM Zurich Research Lab, Zurich is one of the hotspots of quantum
mechanics and nano research. And this is so for an excellent reason: ground
breaking concepts in quantum mechanics have been formulated by ETH physicist
and Nobel Laureate, Wolfgang Pauli. Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986 for the development of the scanning
tunneling microscope at the IBM Zurich Research Lab. This instrument allowed
the first look into the world of atoms, thus throwing the door to
nanotechnology research wide open. A lot of potential nevertheless still
remains to be unlocked. With the new lab, ETH Zurich and ZRL are determined to bring
nanotechnology to the next level.

IBM
Zurich Research Laboratory (ZRL)

The IBM Zurich Research Laboratory is the European
branch of IBM Research. This
worldwide network of some 3500 employees in eight laboratories around the globe
is the largest industrial IT research organization in the world. The ZRL, which
was established in 1956, currently employs some 330 people, representing more
than 30 nationalities. ZRL's spectrum of research activities includes
nanoscience, future chip technology, supercomputing, advanced storage and server
technologies, security and privacy, risk and compliance, as well as business
optimization and transformation. World-class research and outstanding
scientific achievements—most notably two Nobel Prizes—are associated with the Zurich Lab.

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